Reseña del Campeonato

Australia – McLaren takes early initiative
After pre-season testing, no-one was quite sure what the order would be on a race weekend. That question was answered emphatically when McLaren locked out the front row in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix. In the race, Button passed Hamilton off the line and went on to take a dominant victory. World Champion Sebstian Vettel came through from sixth on the grid to finish second, with Hamilton rounding out the podium.
A few themes emerged in Australia. McLaren were obviously the quickest team, with formidable qualifying pace in particular. Lotus and Mercedes had clearly made progress from last year, although Mercedes seemed to lack pace in race conditions. Ferrari were visibly off the pace, with Massa and Alonso struggling to keep the car on track throughout the weekend.

Malaysia – Rain changes everything
Malaysia looked like being a repeat of Australia, until the weather intervened. McLaren occupied the front row of the grid with Mercedes, Red Bull and Lotus in close company, but the order was turned on its head when heavy rain brought out the red flag.
After the restart, when the track started to dry out, Fernando Alonso emerged in the lead, holding on for an unlikely victory to go top of the championship standings. Sergio Perez finished a superb second for Sauber, and might have won the race if he hadn't run wide while harrying Alonso for the lead. Lewis Hamilton finished third for his second podium of the season. Nine constructors featured in the points, showing just how closely matched the cars are this year.

China – Rosberg makes history with Mercedes
Nico Rosberg took his first career pole position and first win to give the Silver Arrows their first success since Fangio won at Monza in 1955. And he did it in style.
Rosberg’s pole position, over half a second clear of the field, set the tone for the race, in which he sprinted into the lead and was never challenged. A loose wheel for Schumacher ended the possibility of a Mercedes one-two, but there was no stopping Rosberg as he finished 20 seconds clear of the Button’s McLaren. Lewis Hamilton in third found himself leading the championship despite not having won a race.
Throughout the field, the battles were close and entertaining. McLaren, Red Bull, Lotus and Williams were all in the mix, using DRS to good effect down the long back straight.

Bahrain – Vettel back on top
After the 2011 race was cancelled, Formula One returned to Bahrain amid fears for the safety of all involved in the race. Two Force India team members returned home after finding themselves uncomfortably close to a petrol bomb on the Thursday night.
Sebastian Vettel silenced his doubters by first taking pole position, and then leading almost the entire race to take his first victory of 2012, setting the fastest lap along the way to the championship lead.
Lotus continued their strong season with Raikkonen second after challenging Vettel at one point, and Grosjean an impressive third. McLaren had a miserable day, with pitstop errors limiting Hamilton to eighth place, and Button retiring with a cracked exhaust just a few laps from the end of the race.

Spain – Maldonado wins for Williams
Pastor Maldonado inherited his first pole position after Lewis Hamilton was excluded from qualifying, and then calmly drove on to his first victory, in the process ending the worst slump in the history of the Williams team. Only Fernando Alonso could challenge the Venezuelan in another race of tyre management. Kimi Raikkonen made a late charge to finish third, just a few tenths behind Alonso.
The drama on Sunday was off the track, however, as a massive fire erupted in the Williams garage 90 minutes after the race ended. In a weekend that also included the 70th birthday party of Sir Frank Williams, there really was a bit of everything.

Monaco – Webber reigns for Red Bull
Michael Schumacher grabbed the headlines on Saturday when he topped the times in qualifying for the first time since his comeback. However, a five-place grid penalty meant the seven-time champion started the race sixth.
Mark Webber took Red Bull's third successive Monaco win, leading Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso in a very close finish. Rain almost intervened to spice up the race, but it was ultimately a fairly processional affair. Red Bull became the first team to win two races in 2012, and extended their lead in the Constructors' Championship. Fernando Alonso came away from the weekend leading the Drivers' Championship.
With six different winners from six races, 2012 has now had the most open start to a season in Formula One history. The teams now head to Canada, where there could be a seventh winner. Alternatively, it could be time for a driver to stamp his authority on the championship. Either way, it looks like the excitement of a close season is set to continue.

Canada – Superb Hamilton makes it seven
A race of tyre strategies saw Lewis Hamilton emerge victorious, after he made a crucial second stop with 20 laps to go. Fernando Alonso inherited the lead, but was far off the pace in the closing stages as his tyres fell off. Hamilton charged through the field to take victory with Romain Grosjean second and Sergio Perez third. Hamilton's win made it seven different winners in the opening seven races of the season.
The weekend was not without controversy as Red Bull's wheel hubs were found to be illegal, and the team was forced to make modifications ahead of the race.

Europe – Alonso wows home fans in Valencia
Qualifying on Saturday saw Vettel on pole ahead of Hamilton, with Alonso far back in 11th on the grid. On Sunday, the Spaniard surged through the field, running third before the safety car came out. On the restart, Alonso passed Romain Grosjean, and then inherited the lead when Vettel's alternator failed. Grosjean suffered the same fate as Vettel, leaving Alonso unchallenged for a win in front of his home crowd.
The European Grand Prix marked the return of Michael Schumacher to the podium, with third place his best result since returning to Formula One in 2010.
Fernando Alonso now leads the Drivers' Championship by 20 points, and is the only repeat winner of the season. The British Grand Prix is the next installment in an enthralling season, where Alonso will attempt to extend his advantage. Can anyone take the fight to the Ferrari driver?

Great Britain – Webber trumps Alonso at Silverstone
The British Grand Prix weekend was one of the wettest in recent memory, culminating in qualifying being red-flagged when there was too much water on the track for safe competition. The race itself, however, was dry, and was won by a determined Mark Webber for Red Bull.
Fernando Alonso had taken pole position, and led from the start to the second round of pitstops. But Webber had always been not too far behind, and with fresher tyres in the last stint of the race easily caught and passed Alonso before calmly proceeding to the chequered flag for his second win of the season. Sebastian Vettel completed the podium in the other Red Bull. The race marked the continuing decline of McLaren, as Hamilton and Button finished eighth and tenth, and the continuing resurgence of Felipe Massa, who put in a strong drive to fourth place.
Fernando Alonso continues to lead the championship, ahead of Mark Webber. It seems that Ferrari and Red Bull have the quickest cars at this stage of the season, and the rest of the field are now frantically working to make up lost ground going into the halfway point of the season at Hockenheim.

Germany – Alonso impervious to pressure
Fernando Alonso took pole position in pouring rain on the Saturday, and then proceeded to demonstrate why he is the form driver in Formula One as he took his third victory of the season, relinquishing the race lead only for a couple of laps in the first round of pitstops.
Alonso was pursued all the way by Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button, the latter in an upgraded and much-improved McLaren, but the Ferrari driver drove flawlessly despite the constant pressure from the chasing cars. Vettel had been ahead of Button until the McLaren driver passed him in the second round of stops. In the dying stages of the race, Vettel passed Button round the outside of the Spitzkehre hairpin, but ran off the track in the process. After the race, the World Champion was duly penalised for his illegal move, which pushed him back to fifth and elevated Kimi Raikkonen to the podium.
Fernando Alonso has extended his championship lead and looks completely in control of proceedings. Only Red Bull and McLaren appear to have the pace to challenge the Ferrari, but they will have to deliver results soon to prevent Alonso from running away with the title.

Hungary – Hamilton stays calm under pressure
A comedy of errors for Michael Schumacher, who lined up in the wrong grid box and then turned off his engine before the re-start. After being wheeled back into the pits, he shot off to the end of the pitlane and earned himself a drive-through penalty for speeding as a result – all before the race even started.
If there were questions about McLaren's form, they were answered in style by Lewis Hamilton, who took pole on Saturday, and then kept his cool to take victory on Sunday. Overtaking is extremely difficult in Budapest, as Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen discovered, each trying and failing to get past the 2008 World Champion. The finishing order was Hamilton, Raikkonen, Grosjean, with championship leader Alonso only managing fifth, just behind Sebastian Vettel and ahead of Button. Bruno Senna finally started to show what he can do in the Williams, finishing in a solid seventh place.
At the mid-season break, Alonso is comfortably out in front, 40 points clear of Mark Webber. From Webber to Raikkonen in fifth is a gap of only seven points, however, so the championship is still fairly open. Two non-finishes by Alonso would eradicate his lead, which means consistency will remain just as important for the last nine races as it has been early in the season.

Belgium – Button from start to finish
It was along wait of four long weekends with no action, and nothing better than Spa-Francorchamps to get everyone excited. Jenson had no equal during the weekend. On Saturday he earned pole comfortably, his first since 2009. Kobayashi confirmed Sauber's good momentum by starting from second and on his side, the fast, but mistake-prone Maldonado will go from third on the grid.
Just second after the light went off, a big accident took place when Romain Grosjean aggressively tried to pass Hamilton while squeezing him out of the track, and in the process putting his wheels between the McLaren’s which generated contact. The consequent ugly accident sent Grosjean on the air,, in part pushed by Hamilton’s car nose and both of them crashed into an innocent Alonso and Perez, who now lost their chances of scoring. For cars went out.
Button and Massa escaped the melee, and the Britton just showed why he was champion in 2009. He was plain unbeatable. Maldonado who seemed fast, made another mistake and was out early. Vettel followed Button with a very valuable 2nd after starting from 10th, while Kimi ate another 15 points by finished in third. Both Toro Rosso ended the race in the points (8th and 9th for Vergne and Ricciardo respectival7, and Nico Hulkenberg raced like a real pro and finished with the best result of his career a fourth.
Overall a entertaining race with a lot of overtaking and awe inspiring moments like Raikkonen overtaking of Schumacher at Eau Rouge. Vettel got closer to Alonso who still leads the championship.

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